58°F is quite high, you want to be in the 52°-54° range. Sounds like a small difference but it makes a big impact. If it's liquidy and ammoniated than you probably "over-cooked" it. You should rapidly respond by cooling and drying it. These are not the types of cheese that are supposed to be liquidy AT ALL.

By the way, over-salting a cheese doesn't just make it salty; it makes it very dry and more importantly - it kills the Geo and PC.

It was only at 58° for a couple of days. It's been in the refrigerator (~45°) since then. I've salted it 3 times. There's a good bloom on it, but it's quite velvety, so I think that's the Geo growing. Yesterday I took the lid off the container I was using for 2 or 3 hours, and then covered it loosely after that.

BTW, if Geo is essential to Camember making, why do the recipes I've seen always say "optional"?

So I felt the edges of my Camembert rounds and they're quite soft, though the center is firm. I cut one open, and the edges are liquidy. Still tastes good, but I'm wondering if that's from the too-high temperature at the beginning, or from the overdose of Geotricum? I have been battling ammoniation on these cheeses all along, and frequently remove the lid so they can dry out a bit.

So I felt the edges of my Camembert rounds and they're quite soft, though the center is firm. I cut one open, and the edges are liquidy. Still tastes good, but I'm wondering if that's from the too-high temperature at the beginning, or from the overdose of Geotricum? I have been battling ammoniation on these cheeses all along, and frequently remove the lid so they can dry out a bit.

i could imagine " too warm" is the answer. another thought too moist , which might at some stage also ending into a slipping rind...but these are my newby thoughts , maybe someone more knowledgable

I have 3 cams that are almost ready...and the edges have toughened up a bit, but the center of the rounds are softening up. I cut one the other day, and they are almost ready...just the very middle "layer" is still a bit chalky, whereas the upper and bottom layers have turned that yellowish sort of color and are very creamy.

I sort of doubt it was the extra geo, but rather feel it was likely the early temp you mentioned.

What is the usual ripening sequence? Obviously, soft at the edges isn't the first thing I should see, and bbracken677 said his edges had toughened up. Should I look for that? Does the center usually ripen and soften first?

What I have found with my limited experience is that the "corners", so to speak, ripen first and then toughen up, and then the outer edge starts toughening up, sort of, before the cheese has finished ripening.

It may be that your edges will toughen up and then the center will begin to soften...Looking back, it appears that your make is about 3 weeks old? My first cams were triple cream and I think due to the added fat they took much longer to ripen.

The cams were eaten at about 4 weeks, and they were quite good. I have some that I made early December and they are definitely ready now. I suspect the speedy ripening is for two reasons: 1) I'm using raw milk and 2) it's goat milk. I've found that goat milk ages much more quckly than cow milk, and that appears to be across the board. Jim Wallace of Cheesemaking.com says the raw milk also ripens more quickly than pasteurized, so that's a double reason for my quick makes. I do keep them at pretty low (refrigerator) temperatures, so it's not too warm an environment.